The Spanish national team emerged as the winners of the 2024 Euros on Sunday after beating England 2-1 in the final at the Olympiastadion in Berlin. The Spaniards have now won the competition for the fourth time in history.
The result ended England’s hopes of winning a major competition for the first time in 58 years when they won the FIFA World Cup in 1966. It also meant that England have now lost consecutive European finals after Euro 2020 final loss to Italy on penalties.
The first half was mild and drab, with few chances in between as Unai Simon and Jordan Pickford stood for their teams when called on, but the Spaniards took the lead immediately after the break with Lamine Yamal setting Nico Williams up to slide the ball past Jordan Pickford.
Gareth Southgate immediately swung into action, substituting the ineffective Harry Kane for Ollie Watkins and bringing in Chelsea’s Cole Palmer for Phil Foden.
It was not long before England restored parity as the front line of Jude Bellingham and Bukayo Saka interchanged passes before the Arsenal man set up Cole Palmer, who slammed the ball into the back of the net from the edge of the box in the 67th minute.
Jude Bellingham also has his opportunity as he twisted and turned at the edge of the box before slamming a low drive past the post into the advertisement board.
It was long after that the Spaniards scored the winner with three minutes left on the clock. Marc Cucurella broke through on the left flank before squaring the ball into the box for Mikel Oyarzabal, who tapped into the net.
England manager Gareth Southgate spoke about his time as England’s coach, which has been up for discussion throughout the competition, and the manager declined to call it time with the Three Lions.
“Now is not the time for me to speak about that. I need to talk to the right people and give myself a bit of time.” Southgate said.